[Discussion] Konshu Tsuma ga Uwaki Shimasu

[choconana]

Hi All

I joined here recently after watching the 2007 drama "Konshu Tsuma ga Uwaki Shimasu" (eng: My wife is having an affair this week). So, I watched the Korean remake first and out of curiosity watched the original Japanese. I didn't understand parts of the story due to my poor understanding of Japanese. The subtitles too weren't very good for later episodes (as I found out, the original subtitling team dropped the project and for episodes 7 till 11, the subtitles were done from Chinese).

I was wondering if anyone here has watched the drama and understood the story. Especially the part where the FL softens her stance towards her husband in episode 8, after re-reading his blog posts. It actually didn't make complete sense to me.

She says that: でも、奥様は戻らないでしょう。なぜなら、あなたの思いを知ったからこそ、自分を許せないからです。(But your wife won't go back. Now that she understands how you feel she cannot forgive herself).

Now this made little sense to me because she has been trying to make him see her viewpoint from the beginning. However if he actually showed that he loves her, she would have ended up feeling guilty anyway and would have wanted to be accountable for her actions. Isn't that paradoxical?

She also follows that up with: でも、奥様は戻らないでしょう。なぜなら、あなたの思いを知ったからこそ、自分を許せないからです。(And now she knows that she has not only failed as a wife but also failed as a mother, she is fully understanding the gravity of what she has done. That is why she can't go back)

Now, this second point made sense. She is only now recognizing the hurt she has caused her family and she is feeling guilty about it. However this is not what she mentions first. This seems somewhat like an afterthought. She uses そして (shoshite) to say "and". My understanding of Japanese is that this means "and then" (like sorekara which means, "and then" but in a slightly different nuance. She didn't use soreni though, which would have meant moreover). So, this is not the main reason exactly.

The way it is worded, I felt like, she would have felt just as guilty only by reading his blog posts even without having "failed as a mother too" or "understanding the gravity of what she has done". Would that be correct? Interestingly in the Korean remake they did away with the second part completely. Just by reading the blog post the FL has a change of heart. It is paradoxical, yet not confusing as the J-drama is.

Any thoughts from those who have watched the drama?